SOUTHALL THE SAVIOUR FOR LOUGHTS
Old Loughtonians W1s 1 - Norwich City W1s 1
The top of the table clash in the East Area Premier division ended all square at Luxborough Lane as Old Loughtonians Women’s 1s came back from a goal down to earn a well deserved point against league leaders Norwich City.
It took Norwich only twelve minutes to take the lead with their first penalty corner of the game. A fierce strike from the top of the D finding the bottom corner. Loughts recovered well from this early setback with Player of the Match India Blake and Captain Tash Patient seemingly everywhere as they grew in confidence. The Norwich keeper was in top form and repelled a number of penalty corner attempts from Loughts including a couple of Chloe Menear straight strikes.
The second half was largely played between both 23s with defences on top for the majority of the second period. However with just twelve minutes remaining, Loughts won another penalty corner and Stevie Southall made no mistake from the left edge of the D with a raking slapshot that beat everyone to nestle in the far corner.
Loughts briefly thought they had snatched all 3 points as Chantelle Fernandes slid in to deflect the ball home. However she was adjudged to have fouled the Norwich defender in the process. Wednesday evening sees the Women’s 1s return to action with a rearranged home game against Upminster W1s before heading to Letchworth next Saturday.
In division 1 South Loughts 2s played league leaders and local rivals Crostyx ladies 1s and in a very tight game the honours were shared in a 3-3 draw with Siobhan Daley, Rachel Paddon and Cerys Edwards scoring for Loughts.
Loughts ladies 3s made the long trip to Southend & Benfleet 2s and won 2-1. S&B scored first from a short corner against the run of play but Loughts responded immediately with Karen Leach scoring form a cross from Cressida Jamieson. Loughts added to their tally 5 minutes into the second half when Sam Gayler fired in a great strike from a short corner injection. Clementine Jamieson gave her speedy opposition wing a hard time all match and was the firm man of the match winner.
The ladies 4s were also in action against Crostyx and won comfortably against their L2s. Lynn Wright opened the scoring after 5 minutes and Alison Harrold scored on 15 and 35 to complete a 3-0 win.
The ladies 5s were also away in Southend playing against Old Southendians 3s. After going 2-0 down Loughts fought back with goals from Jill Bowyer and Hannah Kelly but eventually lost 3-2.
With the men’s 1s playing on Sunday it was up to Old Loughts M2s to lead the line on Saturday away against Letchworth 1s whose excellent hospitality (extending to giving the team lifts back to the station) was much appreciated. Loughts were in great form and won 4-1 in style with goals from Matt Lewis and Josh Beardwell in the first half and Toby Gayler and Gabriel Inch in the second and remain two points off the lead in the premier division of the East Area league. Next week they take on Spalding 1s at home.
The M3s had a disappointing 4-1 loss at home to Bedford 2s but remain second in division 1 South behind Bishop Stortford 1s. The M4s won 3-1 against Havering 2s but the M5s Willows despite playing very well eventually lost 4-2 to league leaders Tower Hamlets 1s. The M6s Willows Woodsmen also lost 4-2 against higher team opposition, Southend 2s. The M7s Willows Rangers played out an 11 goal thriller against Waltham Forest 5s with 2 goals from Sam Kendrick and a hattrick from Daniel Clark. They move three points clear at the top of division 6 south east. The M8s Willows Axemen put in their best performance of the season so far against joint league leaders Thurrock Academy who praised Simon Beckley’s team as their stiffest opposition so far. The Axemen lost 2-1 but with a bare 11 against Thurrock’s 15 were unfortunate to lose when tiredness crept in.

On Sunday it was the turn of the Youth teams and M1s in the England Hockey league. The girls under 16s made the short trip to local rivals Crostyx and came home 8-1 winners. The M1s however had an afternoon to forget.

Following an impressive away win at Bristol University Old Loughts should have collected another 3 points on Sunday at home to Teddington. However an atypical lacklustre performance resulted in Loughts conceding an unnecessary first goal early on. Teddington looked more determined and half a yard quicker. Loughts came back much stronger in the second quarter and captain Conor Caplan was on hand to convert a short corner after Loughts had finally managed to put the ball in the correct place.
At half time the team recognised that they had not been at their best but felt that if they were more dynamic and if they showed more aggression they could come back into the game and win comfortably. Unfortunately, a thirteen-minute spell in the third spell when Loughts conceded three goals and looked all at sea proved their downfall.
To the credit of the team, Loughts did show their class and did manage to claw back two goals in the final quarter from Caplan and Mark Loughrey and had a late penalty corner when they should at least have squared the game! Next week they play Oxford Hawks away.